Somnath Sri Laxmi Narayan Temple ~ உன்னைப் பல்லாண்டு கூறுதுமே

 எம்பெருமான் ஸ்ரீமன் நாரணன் பால் ஈர்க்கப்பட்ட ஸ்ரீவைணவர்கள் அனுதினமும் அனுசந்திப்பது 'திருப்பல்லாண்டு'.  ஸ்ரீமன் நாராயணன் அளவிடமுடியாத பெருமைக்குரியவர்.  அவரை கண்டவுடன், தொழுது தமக்கு வேண்டியவை வேண்டமால், எம்பெருமானுக்கே எந்த  அமங்களமும் நேரிடாதபடி மங்களமே உண்டாயிருக்கவேணும்’ என்று பல்லாண்டு, பல்லாண்டு  ‘பல்லாயிரத்தாண்டு’’   ‘‘பலகோடி நூறாயிரம் பல்லாண்டு’’ என பாடியவர் பெரியாழ்வார்.  எம்பெருமான் உறையுடுமிடங்களான - திருப்பாற்கடல், திருவைகுண்டம்' தவிர திவ்யதேசங்களிலும், அபிமானஸ்தலங்களிலும், மற்றும் உள்ள திருக்கோவில்களில் நாம் பல ரூபங்களில் எம்பெருமானின் தர்சனத்தை  அனுபவிக்கிறோம்.  இதோ இங்கே, சோம்நாத் நகரில் அமைந்துள்ள 'திரு லட்சுமி நாராயணர்' திருக்கோவில் படங்கள் சில. 

The bhoomi poojan at Ayodhya   for the construction of the Sree  Ram temple  marked a milestone moment in the long, chequered history of the Ram janmabhoomi movement. For decades, the demand made by the RSS, VHP and the BJP for a temple dedicated to Ram at His birthplace  has been carried on.  It reached a culmination with the Supreme Court verdict in Nov 2019, ordering the handing over of the land to a temple trust. The highlight of the event on Wednesday though, would be the presence of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modiji  at the site.  About 70 years ago when the newly-restored Somnath temple in Gujarat had to be inaugurated, the then prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, had expressed strong objection to the presence of President Shri Rajendra Prasad at the event. 

 

His concepts and ideas against Hinduism were clearly to the fore  in 1951 at the inauguration of the newly-restored Somnath temple. In his book, ‘Pilgrimage to freedom’, KM Munshi writes that after a cabinet meeting in early 1951, Nehru told him, “I do not like your trying to restore Somnath. It is Hindu revivalism.” Munshi, who was the minister in charge of Food and Agriculture, wrote in his reply: “Yesterday you referred to Hindu revivalism. You pointedly referred to me in the Cabinet as connected with Somnath. I am glad you did so; for I do not want to keep back any part of my views or activities… I can assure you that the ‘Collective Subconscious’ of India today is happier with the scheme of reconstruction of Somnath… than with many other things that we have done and are doing.”

It is poetic that the  architect of Ram Mandir,   Chandrakant Sompura 78 years of age is the 15th generation of a family that has been into designing temple architecture in India and abroad and it was his grandfather PO Sompura who designed the revived and redone Somnath Mandir in 1949 as it now stands in its full glory on the Gujarat coast.

Think of  Lord Krishna  - one is instantly reminded of Sri Parthasarathi, Thiruvallikkeni divyadesam,  great Krishna temples like Guruvayur, Udupi, divyadesams -  Kabisthalam, Thirukkannamangai, Thirukkannapuram,  His Mathura, the places He grew up – Gokulam, Govardhanagiri, Vrindavan .. .. and Dwaraka !   Dwarka is a very ancient place, associated with Lord Krishna – the city is now in Devbhoomi Dwarka district in the state of Gujarat, located on the western shore of the Okhamandal Peninsula on the right bank of the Gomti River.   

On the West of India, between the Gulfs of Kaehh and Cambay, the ancient and once famous country of Kathiawad projecting  into the Arabian Sea.  The land of Kathiawad was holy and was known as the place flowing milk and honey,    towards which merchants from Arabia, Turkey, Northern Africa and South-Eastem Europe directed their ships and acquired the wealth to be obtained from trade with the Indies.   Prabhas Patan, also known as Somnath Patan or Prabhas Ksheta, historically named Dev Patan, is an area situated in Veraval, Gir Somnath district in Saurashtra region of Gujarat.   Somnath temple  is located here.    

Sad history is Somnath was raided and demolished many times by  several Muslim invaders, more specifically Muhammad of Gajini – the temple as its stands now  was reconstructed in Chaulukya style of Hindu temple architecture and completed in May 1951.    This Dec 2019 had the fortune of visiting Somnath and worshipping at these holy places.

 Though plundered by invaders, the Temple was rebuilt every time with the reconstructive spirit of the people. The modern temple was reconstructed with the resolve of Sardar Patel who visited the ruins of Somnath temple on November 13 1947. Then President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, did the Pran-Pratistha at the existing temple on 11 May 1951.   

Mahmud of Ghazni was fired with the desire to loot, and doubtless he was actuated by the zeal of religious fanaticism.  The gates of the original Somnath temple, which were taken away to Ghazni, have never been traced, and they are traditionally supposed to have found a resting-place elsewhere.    Abu Rayhan al-Biruni   an Iranian scholar and polymath during the Islamic Golden Age visited India, Somnath in particular.    He spent much of his life in Ghazni, then capital of the Ghaznavid dynasty, in modern-day central-eastern Afghanistan and hence his accounts are much reliable.   He does not fall into the  error of calling Somanatha an image in the ordinary sense.  He visited Somnath twice.  In his Tarikh-i-Hind he says : The lunar stations the Hindus declare to be the daughters of Prajapati, who cursed Moon who repenting under the advice of Prajapati built the Mahadeva in the shape of Linga – stone of Somanatha, soma meaning moon and Natha, the master.  The image was destroyed by Mahmud who ordered the upper part be broken and the remainder be transported to his residence with all its covering and trappings of Gold, jewels and embroidered garments.  Chakra swamin, an idol of bronze was brought from Taneshar.  After such plundering, Mahmud left, placing governor Mitha Khan who completed the destruction of the temple.

An inscription carried away from Somanatha by Don John de Castro, which was seen in his garden at Cintra in Portugal refers to Somanatha pattan and is dated Vik Sam 1343, 5^th Magha Suda ‘on which day Ganda Tripurantaka, a Pasupata dedicated a temple to Tripurantakesvara’. ] 

எந்நாள்   எம்பெருமான்  உன்தனக்கடியோமென்று  எழுத்துப்பட்ட

அந்நாளே அடியோங்கள் அடிக்குடில் வீடுபெற்று உய்ந்தது காண்

செந்நாள் தோற்றித்   திருமதுரையுள்   சிலை குனித்து   ஐந்தலைய

பைந்நாகத்தலை பாய்ந்தவனே உன்னைப் பல்லாண்டு கூறுதுமே

எங்கள் எம்மிறை எம்பெருமானே,  தேவரீர்க்கு  நாங்கள் அடிமைப்பட்டவர்கள் என்ற சொல்லானது,  எங்களுடைய வாயில் உண்டாகப் பெற்றநாள்,  எந்த தினமோ, அந்த தினம் முதலாகவே,  அடியோங்களுடைய அடிமைப்பட்ட ஸந்தானமெல்லாம் நல்ல கதியையடைந்து உஜ்ஜீவித்துவிட்டது.   நல்ல நக்ஷத்திரத்திலே திருவவதரித்து அழகிய வடமதுரையிலே,  வில்லை வளைத்து முறித்து ஐந்து தலைகளையுடய படத்தோடு கூடின காளிய நாகத்தினுடைய தலை மேலே  பாய்ந்து நடனம் புரிந்தவனே,  தேவரீருக்கு பல்லாண்டு, பல்லாண்டு  ‘பல்லாயிரத்தாண்டு’’   ‘‘பலகோடி நூறாயிரம் பல்லாண்டு’ மங்களாசாஸநம் செய்வோம் ~ என்பது விஷ்ணுசித்தன் எனும் பெரியாழ்வார் வாக்கு. 

At Somnath, almost in front the famous Somnath mandir, stands a beautiful temple, Laxmi Narayan Mandir,  almost in South Indian architecture.  The gopurams look like South Indian temple and the temple is dedicated to Sriman Narayana and Mahalakshmi,  fashioned after the Lakshmi Narayan temple of Badrinath. Colorful idols and pictures illustrating the story of Lord Vishnu's incarnations adorn the temple interior. There are beautiful vigrahams and a sannathi for Swami Ramanuja. Here are some photos taken at the temple.

 Aadiyen Srinivasa dhasan

Manandur Veeravallli Srinivasan Sampathkumar

8.8.2020.